HIGH PERFORMANCEHVAC TODAY TMIf You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing!™hvactoday.comMAY 2018Based Marketer Performance- Become a The Fallacy of Refrigerant Charge AdjustmentsWhy System Performance is So ImportantContractor Spotlight: Hydes Air ConditioningMAY 2018 3HVACTODAY.COMMAY 2018 VOLUME 2 NUMBER 5HIGH PERFORMANCEHVAC TODAY TMCUSTOMER SERVICE:Why is Residential System Performance So Important?How can you deliver the comfort you promise customers if you do not test, measure, and verify. Contractor Scott Getzschman shares how his company greatly improved customer service.MARKETING:How To Become a Trusted Performance- Based MarketerWhat are the realities of marketing your Performance- Based business today. Contractor Nancy McKeraghan explains.COMMERCIAL:Refrigerant Charge Adjustments: Not a One-Size-Fits-All SolutionEngineer Ben Lipscomb, P.E. says proper charge is critical for system performance. But it is not the key to solving comfort issues.201614 DEPARTMENTSOnline Content ......................................................................................4Today’s Word ........................................................................................7High Performance News ....................................................................8High Performace Products ................................................................9Contractor Spotlight: Hydes Air Conditioning ....................10Photo of the Month .........................................................................23Member Update ...............................................................................24Ad Index ................................................................................................25One More Thing ...............................................................................264 MAY 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYONLINE CONTENTMonthly DownloadThis month we provide you instructions on how to use an Alnor EBT 730 micro- manometer to measure open area airflow. It includes step-by-step instructions on how to set the instrument up. The pro-cedure sheet also highlights proper positioning of the velocity matrix, and shares a formula you can use to convert fpm to cfm. Illustrations make following the process faster and easier.Go to ncilink.com/md0518, or use your phone with the QR Code below.By registering for free on NCI’s website, access this download and many more.Online UniversityFeatured this month is the course on Pulley Adjustment and Belt Sizing. Adjustable pulleys are the most common method for changing fan speed in light commercial rooftop and package units. In this course you will learn how to change the pitch on an adjustable pulley, understand how to adjust motor mounts to set belt tension, learn how to align the motor and fan, be able to de-termine correct belt deflection, and learn the formula for determining new belt sizes.Read more here: ncilink.com/ou0518MAY 2018 5HVACTODAY.COMBLOG POSTSCOLONOSCOPY & AN HVAC SERVICE CALLYou might find it difficult to relate HVAC and colonoscopy customer service. In this blog post from 2017, NCI President Rob Falke com-pares how the medical profession addresses a customer’s need to be informed versus how the HVAC profession does it. Read his post at ncilink.com/colon HOW KINETIC ARE YOU?David Richardson writes about how the use of energy is what drives an HVAC system. He goes on to define the differences between kinetic and potential energy how each im-pacts an HVAC system. Sound interesting? Well guess what -- he then examines how we can apply these principles daily to our personal lives. Read this blog post at ncilink.com/kineticThere’s an App for that . . .There are many mobile apps intended for use by HVAC contractors. But who knows which ones are legit? NCI’s David Richardson has found a number of them pertinent to the Performance-Based Contracting Community™, and we present those here. This month, we feature the ASHRAE HVAC Duct Sizer App. It is available in both the Apple and Google App stores and allows technicians to quickly size HVAC ducts using the constant friction method.The app pro-vides for sizing by airflow, di-mensions, and “range of duct sizes.” You can specify duct shape, air temperature, and air pressure. All inputs and results can be emailed out for further analysis using your laptop or desktop computer. The app costs $5.99 and was last upgraded in Feb. 2018.6 MAY 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYMAY 2018 7HVACTODAY.COMProtocol, 2018 is the year the U.S. and oth-er developed nations are to stop producing HFCs, then decrease their use by 10% in 2019 and 85% by 2036.With the imminent complete ban on new R-22 production and increasing phaseout of R-410A and other HFCs, the HVAC Industry will have to rely on recycled and reclaimed stockpiles to con-tinue servicing existing equipment. But according to the EPA, annual reclamation has slowed down, and that may negatively impact the availability of “pure”refrigerants in the not-too-distant future.For example, EPA says more than nine million pounds of R-22 was reported reclaimed in 2016. Sounds good right? In fact it is. That number shows a gain over reclamation in 2014 and 2015, but EPA says it is still significantly lower than the numbers reported in 2008.WILL THERE BE ENOUGH?So everyone knows I am no math genius, but it doesn’t take one to figure out that if reclaimed R-22 continues a downward spiral, there is a good chance we won’t have enough to service all the HVAC equipment out there when the com-plete ban goes into effect.It really is in everyone’s best interest to take another look at recovering and reclaiming R-22 and other banned refrigerant chemicals. Many of the refrigerant distributors around the coun-try have programs to help. Even the EPA has ways to help. There are com-panies that will pay contractors for recovered refrigerant. These firms will even help you with your legal responsibilities. The EPA lists these companies on their website.So don’t be part of the problem. Join forces with contractors nationwide and be part of the solution. Stop your technicians from venting and let’s pull our collective heads out of the sand and look to the future. Not that they were ever really out of the news, but 2018 is another mile-stone year in the never-ending story of refrigerant chemicals and climate change. First a little “catch-up” background. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initially called for the phaseout of R-22 (and oth-er hydrochlorfluorocarbon-based refrigerants), beginning in 2010. That year, they banned the import and production of R-22 for use in new equipment. Technicians can still use it to service and repair existing systems, though that will also be banned beginning in two years. After 2020, only recycled and reclaimed R-22 can be used for those purposes.Other types of refrigerants were added to banned/phase-out lists soon after 2010, most notably those meant to replace the CFC-based ones. These are refrigerants containing hydro-fluorocarbons (HFCs).Fast forward to 2018. In accordance to the Kigali Amendment of the 1987 Montreal Refrigerant Phaseouts Are Back in the NewsMike Weil is editor-in-chief and director of Communications and Publications at National Comfort Institute, Inc.TODAY’S WORDBy Mike WeilEPA 608 2018 Requirements• Expands recordkeeping requirements for tech-nicians who dispose HVAC appliances between 5-50 lbs. of fluorocarbon refrigerant.• Requires technicians who handle hydrofluoro- carbons (HFCs) to be EPA 608 certified.• Extends evacuation level requirements to appliances with HFCs.• Restricts the sale of HFC refrigerant to EPA certified technicians.• Requires those who sell or distribute HFCs to keep invoices records.• Extends evacuation level requirements to small appliances with HFCs.8 MAY 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYNCI TEACHES AT THE CALIFORNIA RSES SPRING CONFERENCEThe Long Beach Chapter of RSES and the California RSES (CARSES) hosted their 2018 Spring Conference and Technology Expo at El Camino College in Los Ange-les earlier in April. This event educates at-tendees on the latest information on low mass hydronic heating systems and hy-dronic piping design. National Comfort Institute, Inc. (NCI) was among several organizations that presented classes during this event. During one NCI session on Discover-ing Profitable HVAC Repairs, attend-ees downloaded and were taught to use the AirMaxx Lite app to diagnose blower airflow and Static Pressure to determine the effectiveness of the equipment to move air.In a separate session, NCI presented on Unraveling the Mysteries of Hy-dronic System Measurements and Diagnostics. Lead by NCI Trainer Jeff Sturgeon, this session focused on how to measure flow and determine defi-ciencies in systems, performance, and how to measure pump pressures, GPM, and flow through balancing stations/circuit setters.HIGH PERFORMANCE NEWSAround the HVAC IndustryFIELDEDGE ACQUIRED BY ADVENT INTERNATIONALRecently, Advent International, one of the largest global private equity investors, com-pleted the acquisition of FieldEdge – a leading full-service management software provider. Advent then merged FieldEdge with another recent acquisition – service payments solu-tion provider Clearent. Financial terms of this transaction were not disclosed.FieldEdge will retain its existing brand and operate as an independent subsidiary of Clearent. It joins Clearent’s platform of in-dependent software vendors (ISVs) servicing select vertical markets with integrated pay-ment solutions. FieldEdge was founded in 1979 as dESCO and was originally designed to help its found-ers run their own HVAC contracting business. Today, the company provides a leading soft-ware-as-a-service (SaaS) solution called Field-Edge to provide field service management software to home service contractors.FieldEdge is also a preferred partner of National Comfort Institute, Inc. BAKER OPENS NEW DISTRIBUTION/SALES CENTER IN TEXAS Baker Distributing Company announced on April 4, 2018 the opening of both a distribution center and a sales center in Arlington, TX. This expansion marks the company’s third distribution center in the United States. The dis-tribution center was previously located in Houston, TX, but was relocated to better service customers.In addition, a sales center adjoining the distribution center also opened. Between the two new locations, more than 13 people are expected to be employed. Baker Distributing Company’s sales centers are wholesale loca-tions for contractors.According to Company President Matthew Roth in a press release an-nouncement, “The new distribution center is in a strategic location to bet-ter serve our customers. This distribution center, along with our continued focus on technology like our ecommerce platform and mobile application, will allow us to ship products to our other sales centers more quickly and efficiently.”He adds that the sales center being located right next door enables Baker customers to “purchase a wide variety of products without having to wait for their order to be shipped from a different location, allowing customers to purchase and receive products the same day – often within minutes.”Baker Distributing has provided customer service and high-quality heat-ing, ventilation, and air conditioning since 1945, with more than 200 loca-tions in 22 states. Baker Distributing Company is a subsidiary of Watsco (NYSE: WSO).MAY 2018 9HVACTODAY.COMJL2 JOBLINK™ SYSTEM WIRELESS TRANSMITTERWith this transmitter, combined with the JobLink app, you can start run-ning your HVAC jobs through your mobile device. You can fill out in-spection checklists, view live measurements, gather in-depth diagnostics, and adjust sys-tems to live data. Take photos and notes for each system. All reports can be emailed to customers and your of-fice, as well as saved in the cloud for access at anytime. The JL2 Transmitter receives measurements from any Field-piece wireless manifold (SMAN4, SMAN440, SMAN460), the Field-piece wireless dual in-duct psychrometer (SDP2), and wireless clamp meters (SC460 & SC660). Mea-surements are sent via radio frequency for extra distance - up to 100’ from instru-ment to phone. Then the JL2 transmitter converts all live measurements and data to a blue-tooth connection with your mobile device. It comes with a belt clip, a 3.7 VDC rechargeable battery via a mini-USB port, and a USB charging cable.For more information or to order, go to ncilink.com/JL2, or call 800-633-7058.TESTO THERMAL IMAGERThis feature-packed adjustable lens thermal imager is ideal for a variety of applications including thermal imag-ing inspection. The Testo 875-1i has a temperature resolution of 80mK and a large sensor (160 x 120 pixels) provid-ing superb image quality. Testo uses enhanced digital image processing to maximize image quality on the color display. Other features include a Tem-perature Range from -4 to 536°F, Long 4-hr/charge Battery Life, and plenty of storage via 2GB MicroSD.To learn more or order, go to ncilink.com/Testo875-1i, or call 800-633-7058.HIGH PERFORMANCE PRODUCTSUpcoming NCI Training & Event Schedule*Subsidized NCI training offered by Southern California Edison.Combustion Performance & Carbon Monoxide Safety Certification Program May 1-3: St. Cloud, MNMay 15-17: Los Alamitos, CA Introduction to Hydronic Testing, Adjusting, & Balancing May 8-9: Los Alamitos, CA* Residential HVAC System Performance & Air Balancing Certification Program May 15-17: Minneapolis, MN Commercial HVAC System Performance Certification Program May 22-23: Richmond, VA Commercial Air Balancing Certification Program May 8-10: Nashville, TN May 15-17: Boston, MA May 22-24: Los Alamitos, CA* Duct System Optimization & Residential Air Balancing Certification Program May 22-24: Milwaukee, WI Next >